It’s just now hitting me that it’s May. April disappeared. Did it really happen? Where did it go?
Summer is almost here, and to me that means it’s time for me to start some serious work on my Mermaid Parade costume. My friend Jessie and I have been participating in the parade for the past few years, and I’m really excited about our theme this time around. It’s going to involve an incredibly larger amount of work, but it will most definitely be worth it in the end.

Last year we won second place for the costumes we created for the little ones in our group. Above is Gabby (Jessie’s daughter, then 12 years old) cowering under an umbrella. The ’09 parade unfortunately was drenched by a torrential downpour, but we tried to stay positive. I have severe umbrella-phobia and have horrible visions of getting an eye gouged out by an umbrella spine, but had a good time nonetheless.

Our theme in 2009 was the Milky Way mermaids, and our costumes looked like space villains from a 1960s movie. The collars were held up by buckram, and when the rain started to come down, the collars went along with it. They ended up becoming capes, which wasn’t quite as cool but it worked out anyway.